The thrilling stories behind heists have made the topic a favorite context for the movie industry and its consumers. Not to mention, the gambling industry is starting to take a sip at this ultimate genre.

Who does not want to see how one person steals and leaves unharmed with millions of dollars? As the movie industry is taking good advantage of this craze, it is also compelling to see how dramatic and intriguing the success stories of these heists turn out.

Bovada casino and sports betting beckon those seeking an adrenaline-pumping gaming space. While Bovada itself may not boast specific heist stories, its dynamic environment sets the stage for an immersive journey into the world of risk and reward.

In this article, we’ll explore 6 of the most famous casino heists with their peculiar stories. We will reveal everything you want to hear, from The Crown Casino’s ultimate heist to the funny Ritz Casino scandal.

1.    The Crown Casino Heist

Worth over $30M, The Crown Casino Heist will forever be in the books of the internet as the most extensive movie-styled operation. This was in 2023 when the manager of The Crown invited a Kiwi millionaire, James Manning, to play at the casino’s high roller table in Perth, Australia.

Manning played the blackjack game and won eight hands, amassing a $33 million prize. Within hours, the casino later discovered that Manning won due to the crooked security camera and card dealing arranged by the Manager who invited him. However, the heists continued unsuccessfully, as Manning could never cash out his fraudulent winnings.

2.    MIT Blackjack Team

This is a weirdly structured heist of card counting. The MIT blackjack team founded by Bill Kaplan was recorded to win millions of dollars playing card games worldwide. Kaplan believes that blackjack is a card game that can be won through statistical analysis.

He proved this by gathering and teaching a team of university students from MIT, Harvard, the University of Chicago, and Princeton to count cards strategically. Within two decades, this team went on to win $22M-$57M playing the blackjack game.

3.    Circus Circus Heist

Heather Tallchief orchestrated the Circus Circus Heist with her boyfriend, Roberto Solis, with a total amount of $3M. From working with Las Vegas’ Loomis Driving Armored Vehicles, Tallchief planned the heist with Solis, who is a convicted murderer on release for writing award-winning poetry.

Since her job was to transport cash to casino ATMs, it was easier for Tallchief to complete the heist with up to $3 million in cash. Immediately after the heist, they both moved out of the country. In 2005, she turned herself in, claiming she separated from Solis after receiving only $1,000 from the whole profit. To date, Solis is still nowhere to be found.

4.    Ritz Casino, London

The Ritz Casino Heist is a unique display showing that physics can be a tool for winning roulette. This all started when a group of players employed the use of laser scanners and microcomputers to calculate where the ball in the game would land. Later named the sector targeting technique, these players went on to amass a total of $1.7 million.

Initially, the police investigated the matter but later concluded that it was never a crime, and the players claimed their profits like Champs. Nowadays, with phones, this cheating technique of playing roulette has been made easier and more challenging to detect.

5.    Bellagio, Las Vegas

You have probably seen or heard about the Bellagio “Biker Bandit” in theater shows like Home Alone. In this case, these characters are not the usual people chasing Kevin around a building; instead, they are human thieves who orchestrated a mind-throbbing robbery that shocked the whole of Las Vegas.

It all happened in 2010 when Anthony Michael Carleo journeyed into the Bellagio with a bike helmet, wielding a gun to steal over $1.5 million worth of chips on the craps table. A few days before this incident, Carleo, who is also the son of a Las Vegas judge, already stole $20,000 worth of chips from another Casino with this same method.

6.    Stardust Casino Heist

Inside job heists are usually one of the most movie-styled operations, but not in this heist. The Stardust Casino heist involved a business within a desperate family with a smoke bomb signature.

In 1992, Royal Hooper, the security guard at Stardust, employed his two sons to rob the casino of up to $150,000. Following this successful heist, Hopper and his sons, after six months, stole again from an armored truck worth over 1.1 million dollars in cash. To cover their tracks, they used smoke bombs.

The End

Stories behind heists are unarguably intriguing, mainly when the perpetrators retained a well-planned strategy to rob and escape the situation unarmed. This is why so many famous heists and scandals are becoming lucrative ideas for the movie industry. So, there you have it: 6 famous casino heists and their world-class acts.